Time optimal attitude maneuver strategies for the agile spacecraft with reaction wheels and thrusters

Abstract

Reaction wheels and thrusters are commonly used for the satellite attitude control. Since satellites frequently need fast maneuvers, the minimum time maneuvers have been extensively studied. When the speed of attitude maneuver is restricted due to the wheel torque capacity of low level, the combinational use of wheel and thruster is considered. In this paper, minimum time optimal control performances with reaction wheels and thrusters are studied. We first identify the features of the maneuvers of the satellite with reaction wheels only. It is shown that the time-optimal maneuver for the satellite with four reaction wheels in a pyramid configuration occurs on the fashion of single axis rotation. Pseudo control logic for reaction wheels is successfully adopted for smooth and chattering-free time-optimal maneuvers. Secondly, two different thrusting logics for satellite time-optimal attitude maneuver are compared with each other : constant time-sharing thrusting logic and varying time-sharing thrusting logic. The newly suggested varying time-sharing thrusting logic is found to reduce the maneuvering time dramatically. Finally, the hybrid control with reaction wheels and thrusters are considered. The simulation results show that the simultaneous actuation of reaction wheels and thrusters with varying time-sharing logic reduces the maneuvering time enormously. Spacecraft model is KOrea Multi-Purpose SATellite (KOMPSAT) -2 which is being developed in Korea as an agile maneuvering satellite.